Before Breakfast
by Nerweniel
Summary: Valentine's day and an owl is sitting on the windowsill of Minerva McGonagall's window. Seems as if our dear Transfigurations teacher has got an admiror! Sugar sweet ADMM fluff!


A/N: Written for Kittysphoenix for the Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange at the Frivolity and Felines Cookie Jar in Fiction Alley Park. Happy Valentine to everybody!  
  
Before Breakfast  
  
-----------------  
  
5 o'clock in the morning. and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was sleeping.  
  
In an hour, yes, then the first students would perhaps wake up to do some "last-minute" homework.  
  
In an hour, yes, then the first teachers would yawn, yet leave their beds to prepare some of their classes-of-the-day.  
  
In an hour, yes, but not now. Now, it was 5 o'clock. and everything was silent.  
  
Yet…  
  
One bedroom was already empty. One creature already made a noise.  
  
It was an owl, a beautiful, grey barn owl, and he was sitting, softly hooting, on the windowsill of Professor Minerva McGonagall's open window.   
  
If someone would have observed the animal- but no-one had- then he would have noticed that the owl always arrived there at precisely a quarter to five, and usually left around five past. He would also have seen the look in the animal's eyes. For it had remarkable eyes- very light blue eyes. Almost human eyes… twinkling eyes.  
  
Albus Dumbledore's eyes.   
  
The owl- and the Animagus behind it- was staring very intensely at the large four-poster bed in the corner of the room. And more precisely- at the woman sleeping in it.   
  
The woman wasn't very young anymore, but in her sleep, the soft wrinkles she already had all vanished. She had been a beauty, this woman, and in a way she certainly still was.  
  
Albus Dumbledore's eyes softened as he again noticed what he had noticed so many times before. The ebony, thick and beautifully wavy hairs, now spread messily on the pillow… The reddish lips and the soft, pink blushes on the pale cheeks. The slimness of her tall body, curled up now in a very- feline way.   
  
Albus Dumbledore's adoration for cats grew every second…  
  
But he had to leave- that was, and it had always been, a difficult moment … Every single morning in those fifty years, he had wanted to stay there, to lie down beside her, to lay his arms around her- very softly.  
  
And to kiss her.   
  
He so desperately wanted to kiss her. Yet, he prepared to leave.  
  
Until she suddenly moved.  
  
Albus saw it happen- and was totally dumbfounded. What could he do now? He couldn't- he couldn't fly away. He couldn't and for some reason, he didn't want to as well.   
  
He watched the slim woman yawn softly as she stumbled out of her bed. With a quick gesture, she laid her dark green cloak around her shivering shoulders and yawned again. Her long, dark hairs now fell down her back.   
  
Albus shivered as well.   
  
Did this creature, his Deputy, his best friend, realize how very enchanting she was? No- of course she didn't… Minerva didn't realize such things. Yet, he kept on observing her.  
  
With another shiver, the woman moved slowly towards the open window- she, even in winter, always slept with windows open-, oppressing another soft yawn.   
  
As she noticed the owl, she smiled.  
  
"Aithne, is that you?" Minerva called out the name of her own owl. Her clear, green eyes stared blankly at the animal. She couldn't see without her glasses, of course…  
  
Albus almost grinned- but since owls never grin, he didn't. Yet, the relief he felt was clearly shown in his thoughts. He was lucky now… phew… but…  
  
But his relieved thoughts quite left when Minerva, with a bang, quickly closed the window and spoke then, in a way less dreamy voice  
  
"Okay now, Albus Dumbledore. You have the choice: you either stay locked up here forever, or you change back immediately and explain this!"  
  
Though the thought of eternally staying in her quarters didn't seem at all unpleasant to Albus, he, with a soft pop, quickly changed back to his usual form: a tall, white-bearded man with sparkling blue eyes. He was grinning faintly, yet Minerva didn't smile.   
  
Hands on her hips, she stared sternly at her employer, who softly muttered  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
Now, she faintly smiled.  
  
"I am not stupid, Albus! You, who're always on about your "dog Animagus form"! My god! Of course you've got more of them- illegal ones, that is!"  
  
She stared at him accusingly, and Albus found himself staring at his feet. He suddenly realized very well how frightening she could look to students…  
  
"Only one."  
  
Minerva snorted softly.  
  
"Still! What was that one illegal one doing on my windowsill?"  
  
"I was just passing by, and…"  
  
The woman rolled her eyes and looked theatrically on her watch.  
  
"Listen, Albus, I've got time, you know! It's five past five- still three hours until I've got to go up to the storeroom on the third floor and tell James Potter and Lily Evans to stop snogging. And since it is Valentine's day, I think I…"  
  
But she somehow shut up when she noticed the strange, piercing look in Albus' light blue eyes.   
  
For Albus had made his decision.   
  
And suddenly, very suddenly, he pressed his lips against Minerva's- oh, very softly, and a very short moment…  
  
"You want to know why I sat there, Minerva? I'll tell you. Because I wished I could snog you in a storeroom. I love you, my dear. I know you don't love me back, but now at least you know."  
  
With this, he slowly closed his eyes.  
  
He had said it.  
  
He had ruined everything.  
  
But then, very unexpectedly, he heard a chuckle escaping from her thin lips. And as he opened his eyes again, she laid her arms around him and looked into his eyes. She was smiling as he slowly, with shaking hands, cupped her face.  
  
"You ridiculous old coot…" she whispered tenderly. "I've loved you since I was eleven."   
  
With this, their lips that had been longing so many years, finally met, and there were just the two of them. There, high above. In paradise.   
  
The only thing Minerva felt was him- his soft mixture of lemon drops, chocolate and… just "he"- and as Albus pulled her even closer to him- he had been waiting for so bloody long…- he felt, finally felt, how sweet those thin, rosy lips that could look so stern, really were.  
  
And as they, a few very enjoyable moments later, laid in each others arms on her couch, her head snuggled closely to his chest, Albus finally spoke out thosewords he'd wanted to say for so many years.  
  
"Happy Valentine, my love..."  
  
For Valentine's Day it was, and Albus and Minerva would always remember this very special day, on which they -still before breakfast- had finally got together...  
  
And with a soft sigh, Minerva kissed the man she'd loved for so many years once more and then softly responded  
  
"Happy Valentine, my love..." 


End file.
